Todd before you spend money making a island raft system thinking the plant roots will just angle in the water and grow OK, read the link below. It sounds so simple but the roots become black and the plants yellow and eventually die because the unfiltered water particles collect on the roots. Before I made my island I ran a test of a floating plant in my pond and it turned yellow and died. At the same time another pond boss member said he had the same problem. When I planted my island using dirt as a filter which allowed healthy rigors plants I also put one plant in the island with it’s roots dangling in the pond. It stopped growing, turned yellow and died. I pulled it and the roots were black. As far as I can tell plants do just fine in any filtered water, natural or mechanical. In my foam island the ropes draw water into the soil but actually the island is heavy enough that water freely flows into the dirt because the island is low enough for water to flow in without the ropes. Ropes are probably not even necessary and just holes would be OK.
The link below really proves the point.
http://blog.aquaponicssystems.com/2009/07/aquaponics-in-fishponds-on-floating.htmlHere are dozens if not hundreds of aquaponic raft systems.
https://www.google.com/search?q=aquaponi...800&bih=434
